Vincent's 'I'm a cheat' message to warn players against corruption

Christchurch, Feb 13 (IANS) Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent, who was banned for life by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from any kind of cricket after admitting to a range of match fixing offences, was used by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Saturday to bring out an emotional video message to players ahead of the World Cup starting Saturday.

"My name is Lou Vincent and I'm a cheat," said the message.

With these words the disgraced 36-year-old batsman warned more than 200 players in Australia and New Zealand for the quadrennial event about the dangers of being trapped by corruption.

The New Zealander appeared for about 30 seconds in the footage that was shown to players from the 14 competing nations, as well as team management and other staff, before they were also addressed by the ICC anti-corruption unit chairman Ronnie Flanagan.

ICC chief executive Dave Richardson told Radio New Zealand Friday that it could never be guaranteed that any tournament would be corruption-free but stated that measures were already in place to thwart any attempt at corruption.

"We have got a very good handle of who these corrupt individuals might be who are travelling the world who may try to influence matches by contacting players, or umpires or groundsmen," he said.

"I am sure that any attempt made will be thwarted by the measures put in place."

Vincent pleaded guilty last year to a total of 25 corruption breaches, 18 of them relating to three county matches from 2008 to 2011, and the rest in connection to the T20 Champions League in South Africa in 2012.